Audio 4:22
Surabaya Mayor promises brothel shutdown by 2014

The mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, promises to shutdown the region's brothels by 2014. However, welfare groups warn that the industry cannot be shutdown without careful management.

Transcript

TIM PALMER: The mayor of Indonesia's second-largest city has set the goal of shutting down the region's brothels by 2014.

Tri Rismaharini is the first female mayor of Surabaya, the so-called sex capital of Indonesia.

But welfare groups warn the industry can't be shut down without careful management and alternative jobs for the women.

Amy Bainbridge reports from Surabaya, in East Java.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: It's supposed to be a day off for students at a public high school in Surabaya. Instead, they've come to see someone who has growing star status in this community - only she's not your ordinary celebrity, she's the mayor.

Over the next hour, students sit transfixed by the mayor's lecture on the darker side of life in Surabaya. She warns them to stay clear of prostitution, drugs and human trafficking.

(Tri Rismaharini speaking)

Surabaya is the so-called sex capital of Indonesia. It's an industry Tri Rismaharini wants to dismantle within the next 12 months. She says it's time to make the city more family friendly and more prosperous.

TRI RISMAHARINI (Translated): Surabaya is a port city, where prostitution has developed rapidly. There are four big localisation districts in Surabaya. I found there are children who come from this neighbourhood - they are not just involved in the profession but they aspire to become one because they come from this environment. This is why I am very concerned. I am very concerned for the children.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: She says there 110,000 people living below the poverty line in Surabaya - a city of three million.

TRI RISMAHARINI (Translated): My main challenge is how I can quickly increase the welfare of the people in Surabaya, how I can lift people above the poverty line so they have a better life and how to make Surabaya a city that is comfortable and safe for the people who live in it - not just for the rich but also for the poor, for everyone.

(sound of club music)

AMY BAINBRIDGE: Some 2,000 women work in Surabaya's red light district. We visit the most infamous area, Gang Dolly, with the assistance of a local aid group and their security.

Welfare and aid groups regularly visit the women working in brothels and karaoke bars to monitor their physical and mental health.

"Sri" is a former prostitute.

SRI (Translated): I come here often at night time to visit my friends, and also sell make-up products. So I talk to my friends, I sell it to my old friends. I think many of them do want to get out, do other jobs, but maybe because they do not have the education or the skills to do the jobs so they are stuck doing this. Maybe if there are people who would offer them jobs, they would probably take it.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: At a nearby crisis centre for women, we meet "Fina", who's been a prostitute for six years.

She says if the mayor closes down the area she works in, she hopes to go back to her home village. But she doesn't think it will end the industry.

FINA (Translated): Personally, if they are going to close it, the prostitution will spread out to the street. It will go underground.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: The local government has already closed brothels in one area, Bungurasih, as a pilot ahead of further shut-downs.

Joris Misa Lato is the director of Embun Surabaya, which runs a women's shelter a few streets away.

JORIS MISA LATO (Translated): The result of the closing of the localisation is that the prostitutes are operating wildly, not localised, and in unofficial rental rooms, so it's not at all good. Closing it is not the best way.

We know that prostitution is slavery. There are a lot of issues that need to be sorted out before they are released to the community - not just their health problems but their mental mindset.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: The mayor says she's applying a comprehensive approach to shutting down the areas and she knows it won't be easy.

(children clapping and singing)

Back at the high school in Surabaya, it seems her message has struck a chord. Students swarm for photos and everyone wants to shake her hand. Sixteen-year-old Olivia Papahan says she is inspiring.

OLIVIA PAPAHAN: The most important thing is we have to be close to our parents and to our family, and we shouldn't do bad things like free sex or drugs or something like that.

AMY BAINBRIDGE: The mayor pauses briefly to greet students on her way out before rushing off to her next engagement. It's a big city, and the mayor has a big task ahead.